it's been exactly a month

Oh hello again everyone...

I really can't explain why it's taken me so long to get back into this blogging thing. February was sort of an odd month. January was packed with all these new experiences and the excitement of being here and learning a new culture and school system and what not. February however was sort of like okay, we're here, we know our way around... but we're still sort of new. Honestly February was weird for me. Can't really put into words why, but it was. So I'll do my best to remember the month of February. Go.

The first week of February we went to Brussels and Amsterdam. None of us really knew what to expect but we got up at 2:30 am to get the bus at 3 am into Dublin. Our flight was at 7:50 am and the next bus would have gotten us to Dublin too late so 3 am was our only option... joy. Nah it really wasn't that bad. Growing up so far from family I'm very used to long car rides and am conditioned to fall asleep. In fact, unless I'm driving that beloved Jersey  Turnpike, a car ride will 9 times out of 10 put me right to sleep so I had no problem with the early bus. We got breakfast at the airport and no lie, there were people drinking Heinkeins and Guinness's for breakfast at 6:15 am. In fact I saw someone else doing that in the airport in London (more on London later) now that I think of it. I can drink early, but not that early. Anyway we got to Brussels and it was cool to discover that they actually drive on the correct side of the road. I felt a little more at home, until I remembered that the national language is French and I hardly know any. I mean, don't get me wrong, everywhere we went like the airport and the hotel, everyone spoke English, but you're supposed to try and speak their language before they let you know they speak English. Yeah well, I'm so American that I often forgot to ask in French if they spoke English, which merited quite a few annoyed looks. Oh well. We got into Brussels and had to take a bus and then master the metro (which required a train switch) in order to get to our hotel. I gotta be honest, I was proud of myself for figuring out the SEPTA regional rail out of Overbrook. Not so here. It's SO easy to get around on the public transportation that I don't even think about taking a cab anymore. It's so much simpler than the NYC system or really any system that we have in the US. The maps are very straight forward and everything is labeled very clearly. You know, just being a world traveler...

 Brussels is a really cool city... I'm not really sure what I expected but it looked very much like any other metropolitan city until you got to the Grand Place. It was this courtyard with these HUGE gorgeous palace looking buildings. Turns out one of them actually was a palace, or at least used to be and is now a swanky hotel. The most important part of the Grand Place however was the waffle restaurant. Oh yes friends, the waffle restaurant. Let me tell you and I do not exaggerate, the Belgians know how to do their waffles and their chocolate. So naturally, I put the two together and ordered a waffle with chocolate sauce on it. Heaven. Rich as all hell but SO GOOD. We explored a little on the first day but retired pretty early because we were all beat. The hotel was interesting... We wanted to avoid hostels as much as we can so we chose a two star hotel which was reasonably priced and deemed quite clean by consumer reviews. For me, as long as it's clean it's aaaall good. It doesn't have to be fancy or pretty, just clean. Of course we only rented one room, a triple. However there were five of us so we had to split up and go in a staggered times so it wasn't obvious. Either we did it right or the staff didn't care because we got away with it fine.

The next day we did the hop on hop off bus which is a pretty cool system around Europe. Most major cities have them and you just buy a ticket and the bus will take you to the hot spots of interest around the city. You can choose to get off and see the spot, and another bus will stop at the place 15 minutes later and you can get back on then. We learned a few things about Brussels that we didn't know. For example, they haven't had a formal government in two hundred something days... normal. Also, Brussels is the capital of the EU and they actually have their own monarchy. Pretty cool.

The next day we did Amsterdam. Got up on the bright and grabbed a train into Centraal Station. We headed right for the Anne Frank house. Didn't expect Amsterdam to be so damn cold, but it was FREEZING. I never realized that it's a city of canals so the wind coming off the water was sooo chilly. This is relevant because we had to wait in an almost hour long line to get into the Anne Frank house. It was worth it though. The museum and everything that went with it was so powerful. We got to walk through the house and then actually up the hidden stair case behind the bookshelf and see where she lived with her family and others. Everything they had from the displays to the video interviews with her father was so moving. Sickening honestly, but very moving. After the house we went to see the I Amsterdam sign, of course. Got lots of cool pictures. We took the tram there, which once again was the easiest system to figure out and we were able to get around the city no problem for 7 euro. After that we hit the coffee shop. Whether or not I indulged I will leave to your minds discretion... We then headed on over to, of course, the Red Light District. Now when I say that I was literally 3 feet away from an ACTUAL hooker... I mean I was literally 3 feet away from an actual hooker. They sit on chairs behind glass doors and just beckon the depraved from the sidewalk. Not kidding. And like, they're not pretty... I don't know, maybe they save the pretty hookers for night time, but they were all beat and to be honest, kind of fat. I mean not that I expected them to be beautiful but... I don't know... I actually don't think I contemplated the appearance of a hooker much, which I guess is a good thing? But either way it was a completely new experience. An hour or so later we got the train back to Brussels. We didn't want to know what a hostel would be like in Amsterdam. The city was actually very beautiful, but I imagine it only gets seedy at night. I think we made the right choice.  We accomplished all that we wanted to in the 6 or so hours we were there.

We left Brussels the next day to head back to Ireland. It's funny, we kept referring to Ireland as "home"... which in a way it really is. It was nice to get out of Galway for the weekend because the routine does become a little monotonous, but it felt good to come back.

Nothing too much happened in the two weeks following the trip. I started hanging out with these AWESOME girls Jackie and Allie from St. Louis U who I met a few weeks prior. I ran into them when I was walking out to Salthill, this little beach town outside of Galway City and I've been having a ton of fun hanging out with them. I have a lot in common with both and Allie loves sports as much as I do so I finally have someone to talk to :). Probably the biggest news from the two week period was that JOHNNY IS COMING TO VISIT FOR ST PATRICKS DAY! I literally cannot wait. It's going to be out of this world insane.

Then came my favorite part of the month: Mama and Papa Murph's visit =). I left Galway on the 18th to fly to London where I was meeting them. It was the first time that I had done the whole process of bus to airport to airport to hotel all by myself so I was nervously excited for the experience. I did just fine and landed in London around 7 and got a cab to my parents hotel. The traffic was brutal and I felt like I was at home again haha. Literally had to take London's version of Roosevelt Boulevard to get there and it was agonizing to wait because I so desperately wanted to see my parents, but I got there and the hotel was beautiful and I had drinks with Mom and Dad. We went to dinner and then I got to meet up with Meg and the London girls to go out. This was so much fun. The metro system in London, called the Tube, is also incredibly efficient so we took the train to Piccadilly Circus (made me laugh every time I saw the name) and went to an Irish pub. It was the first time I didn't feel like a total poser in an Irish pub actually. Emily introduced me to a new AWESOME drink: vodka and club soda with extra fresh lime wedges - so refreshing and you can hardly taste the Smirnoff. Anywho we danced and were having a great time. Meg and I were off the dance floor taking a break when this guy approached us, but didn't say anything. He was clearly our age and was actually really cute and dressed like an American, so we were confused as to why he wasn't saying anything... So I finally was like "um, hi, I'm Kelly" to which he responded "I from Espana, no speak much English". Of course. He was REALLY cute so we tried to talk a little. He used the 27 English words that he knew, then literally mid-sentence leans in and kisses me. I was a little shocked at first, but homeboy knew what he was doing so I let it continue. We literally made out for like 5 minutes. Normal. He then pulls away and goes "You come sleep in my bed tonight together", to which I responded "No, no... I sleep in the hotel... with my parents". Hombre understood at least the "no" part, if not the "parents" part, so he wandered off. Just another ridiculous bar story. I headed back to the hotel around 3:30 am. Scared the shit out of my mom when I came in but they were cool with the late hour surprisingly.

The next day we went to the Chelsea-Everton soccer game. Okay, sorry Manley, the football match. It's very different from an American setting I think. One half of the stadium is the home teams fans and the other is the away teams fans. Sort of negates the advantage of the home field, I think. Dad leaned over and goes "Could you imagine having half of the Linc being a bunch of Dallas nitwits?" I couldn't. But they sing throughout the entire match, which Dad and I agreed would only result in a headache and sort throat. Maybe we're not real fans. Anywho, the game went into extra time and then penalty kicks. Very exciting. Except we left halfway through extra time... whoops. It was actually probably for the best. It would have taken us at least an hour after the game to get back to the hotel and it was already around 3 pm when we left. There were enough cops outside the stadium for two Super Bowl parades, it was WILD. There must be a history of violence as everyones being herded out. Shit, I'd probably punch a Dallas fan if he was goin wild right next to me as we were packed in walking out. Anyway we went to this place called Covent Gardens which is a really neat little shopping market. It reminded me a lot of Quincy Market in Boston. Lots of little knicky-knacky stuff but it was a great atmosphere. Then we went to this awesome Italian place and then an Oscar Wilde show called "The Ideal Husband". It was great until the end, which dragged on 15 minutes longer than it said it would on the program. Wilde is great but he just couldn't wrap this one up and there was a lot of English humor which I think flew right over our heads. We went out for a drink later and then headed to bed because the next day was sight seeing day!

Sunday we did the hop on hop off that I mentioned when we were in Brussels. We saw all the major spots but of course Westminster Abbey was closed because it was Sunday and as it is still a functioning church, services were being offered and it was closed to visitors. I was pretty bummed about that but I guess it means I'll have to come back! Now for those of you who know me well, you know that I love historical fiction and a lot of what I've read has been set in Tudor England. So I was TOTALLY geeking out. Dad got some great shots of the city which I'll upload later. That night we ate at this place which was a lot like the California Grill in Disney World. It was 8 floors up and looked over the Thames and a lot of London. A great view and GREAT food. Really everywhere we ate in London was amazing. The food here in the UK and Ireland is very fresh because it doesn't need to travel far and it makes the food SO much better. Healthier too.

The next day we headed back to Galway. I walked Mom and Dad all around the spots I usually go like campus and such. Their hotel room was HUGE and so I ended up staying there a few of the nights. Thursday was Mom's birthday so she wanted to have a sleepover, she's so cool. It was so nice to have my parents here, I was literally on cloud nine for 7 days. But honestly, it's been difficult adjusting back to life without them haha. But Mom will be back in early April and shortly after that I'll be living with them again =).

This upcoming week is called Rag week at NUIG. Now, rag stands for Raise-up And Give. It's a charity event, but really everyone just gets HAMMERED for an entire week. I'm leaving my apartment in an hour to go to campus and get the party started with my SLU friends... I'll FOR SURE keep you posted on how this goes. I really don't have a blessed clue what to expect...

If I come up with a story that I missed, which I'm sure there are and there are certainly stories I must leave out here for the sake of my "internet footprint", I will add them later. Miss you guys more than you know and I will attempt to blog more frequently again. Love you so much.

Kelbel